Wildlife / Animals nominee

he name orangutan comes from the Malay word orang hutan, which literally means man of the forest.
Orangutans were once widely distributed throughout Southeast Asia, even reaching as far south as southern China and the southern Indonesian island of Java. But today, these great Asian apes are limited to two islands, Borneo and Sumatra.
With their numbers drastically declining over the last century and constantly increasing human pressure, they could become extinct in the wild within the next few decades.
We captured the call of a large male Bornean orangutan (Pongo pygmeaus) wandering in the Bornean rainforest. At the beginning of this sequence, we heard a few squeaks, followed by a long scream, hoarse moans and bubbly gurgles, followed by stretching and yawning… The Man of the Forest shared his quest for sustainability.

Benoît Rondelet is a committed witness to nature and humanity. He is passionate about living things, but his full commitment as a professor of thoracic surgery and lung transplant recipient has left him with little time to share this passion. The COVID-19 pandemic, as Medical Director of the UCL Namur University Hospital Group, has invited him to explore new perspectives…

Thus, his wildlife photographs do not simply capture moments; they aim to open windows onto the fragile splendor of wild territories and build a bridge to the souls of the beings who inhabit them. He believes this invitation stems from a deep faith, where spiritual metaphysics, a moral imperative, scientific knowledge, and aesthetic sensitivity converge; he is at the crossroads of these paths! His photographs show us that what connects Man to Nature lies in the belief that it constitutes not only an ordered structure but also the Idea of ​​a totality that we have a duty to respect, whether it is referred to as Cosmos, Nature, or Creation.

His socio-artistic approach is much more than a means of capturing images; it offers an intimate connection with the soul of the world, like an invitation to a great Humanist mass.